Apparatus for reheating and finishing glassware



2 L L E W D L A C R M APPARATUS FOR REHEATING AND FINISHING GLASSWARE. No. 442,855.

Patented'Dee. 16, 1890.

l/EIVTOH MI .AMXILQW WITNESSES:

2 Sheets--Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

M. R. CALDWELL. APPARATUS FOR REHEATING AND FINISHING GLASSWARE.

Patented Dec. 16, 1890.

IIVI/E/VTOR WITNESSES:

nonms PEYERS 20., wow-mm WASHINGT NITED Sr T s MXlllFlY R. CALDVELL, OF TIFFIN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO A. J. BEAT'FY & SONS, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR-REH EATING AND FINISHING GLASSWARE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 442,855, dated December 16, 1890.

Application filed July 26.1890. Serial No. 360,050. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, MATHEW R. CALDWELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Tiffin, Seneca county, in the State of Ohio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Reheatin g and Finishing Glassware, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directed to improvements in glory-hole furnaces particularly designed for reheating glassware for melting the edges and fire-polishing the surface of such articles as tumblers, goblets, and other ware pressed or blown which ha ve their edges left rough and irregular and require to be melted and softened down and rounded uniformly by revolving the article upon a snap rod or spindle under the action of the flame; and the objects of myimprovements are to fire polish and finish the edges and surface of the ware uniformly by subjecting it to heat while under two simultaneous motions, one sweeping horizontally through the fire-chamber where the heat is most effective and the other a motion of rotation during its passage through the fire, and to render the work expeditious as a preparatory step to further work in an annealing-oven; and my said invention consists of certain novel parts and combinations of parts, whereby the article is caused to have a compound motion while under the direct action of the heat, and which will be particularly pointed out in the claims concluding this specification, in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view on the line b b of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the furnace, taken on the line a a of Fig. 1, showingthe arrangement of the ware-carrying tables on each side of the firechamber to obtain the most effective heat uponthe revolving edges of the article; and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken below the base-plate to show the segmental racks and the snap spindle pinions engaging therewith.

The furnace a is constructed of refractory brick, preferably of circular form, with a central circular fire-box b standing below the bench or base-plate 0, upon which the firechamber forming-wall a is erected with an arched crown. At opposite sides the vertical walls of the lire-chamber are pierced with two vertically-standing openings d d just above the bench or base-plate, and which extend down to and open into segmental slot-formed openings 6 in the said base-plate, extending therein from one wall-opening to the other, so as to form a segmental open ,path in the base-plate within the fire-chamber on each side of the central fire-box.

Immediately below the base-plate, and at points centrally between the wall-openings (Z (Z on each side of the furnace, I mount a horizontal revolving table ff on suitably-supported vertical shafts g g, so as to bring the circumference of the tables in coincident relation to and just under the segmental slotformed openings in the base-plate. Around the table, near its edge, are mounted in suitable bearings snap rods orspindles h, standing u pward at suitable distances apart, and having cups or plugs on their upper ends for receiving and carrying the articles to be fire-finished, and which as the table is rotated carry the ware through the fire-chamber in the arc of a circle struck from the axis of the table. At their lower ends the snap-spindles are provided with a pinion i, which engages with a segmental rack j, suitably secured to and depending from the under side of the base-plate or wall of the fire-box and extending parallel with the slot-formed openings in the baseplate, so that as the snap-spindles are carried through the fire-chamber by the rotation of the table the snapspindles are caused to rotate in their bearings while passing through the fire, and thus the ware has a compound movement to obtain the best effect of the finishing action of the heat upon the edges and surface of the ware. For this purpose the ware is caused to travel in the immediate vicinity of the greatest heat from the fire-box. This construction causes the rapid rotation of the snap-spindles only as they are slowly carried through the fire, so that after leaving the fire-chamber they have no independent rotation and the ware can be readilyremoved from the snap-cups under the comparatively slow rotation of the table. The tab-es may be rotated by power applied to their shafts at their upper or at their lower ends, and it is obvious that the ware may be placed within the snap-cups, carried through the furnace,

and removed from the snaps during the continued rotation of the tables, and that the working capacity of the furnace may be increased by the addition of one or more tables like the two shown, and that one tableonly finished articles may be removed and replaced by others without stopping the tables, and this advantage is obtained by the construction and arrangement which permits the ware to enter one side of the fire-chamber, pass through it, andout at its other side, where it can be conveniently removed.

The arrangement of the ware-carrying table outside of the fire-chamber keeps it from undue heat and from warping, permits of its arrangement at the side of the furnace and of continuously carrying the ware into and out of the fire-chamber, of continuously removing the finished ware, and ofcontinuousl y placing the ware to be finished. Such construction permits of the use of a comparatively small fire-chamber and of arranging two or .more tables around it to increase the capacity for work, and it gives the advantage of renewing the ware-carrying supports when necessary, and of operating independent lines of ware within the same fire-chamber.

It is evident that immaterial departures maybe permitted from the general construction and arrangement of parts contributing toward any invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself thereto in precise detail.

I claim as my improvement I 1. In a glass reheating or melting furnace, the combination of afire-chamber having vertical wall-openings and coincident segment-a1 slot-formed bottom openings extending from one wall-opening to another, a table arranged below said bottom opening and having vertically-standing spindles arranged thereon to pass through said wall and segmental bottom openings, suitable means for rotating said table continuously, and suitable means for rotating said spindles in their bearings durin g their passage through the fire-chamber.

2. In a glass reheating or melting furnace, the combination of a fire-chamber having vertical wall-openings and coincident segmental slot-formed bottom openings extending from one wall-opcning to another, a table arranged below said bottom opening and having mounted thereon vertically-standing spindles arranged to pass into and through said wall and segmental bottom openings and provided with pinions on their lower ends, suitable means for rotating said table continuously, and a segmental rack arranged to engage said spindlepinions to cause them to revolve in their bearings only during their passage through the fire-chamber.

3. In a furnace for reheating and finishing glassware, a number of revoluble supportingrods provided at their upper ends each with a head to receive the glass article and at their lower ends each with a pinion, in combination with a table carrying said rods, a fixed rack engaging said pinions, means for rotating said table, and afurnace through the firechamber whereof the said glass-supporting rods are carried. 7

at. In a reheating or melting furnace, the combination of a fire-chamber having vertical wall-openings and coincident segmental slot-formed bottom openings extending from one wall-opening to another and having a central fire-box, tables arranged to rotate at opposite sides of the furnace below its baseplate, havingvertically-standing snap rods or spindles for carrying the ware arranged concentric with said bottom opcnings and having pinions on their lower ends, and segmental racks secured to the furnace, engaging said pinions and having a length equal to that of the segmental slot-formed openings, whereby the ware is caused to rotate in its passage through the fire-chamber and to be carried around outside of the same.

5. In a glass reheating or melting furnace, a fire-chamber having vertical wall-openings and coincident bottom openings extending through the fire-chamber and conuecting'two of said wall-openings, in combination with a table arranged beneath the bottom of the firechamber, having vertical ware-carrying supportsarranged in the line of said openings, and means for rotating said table for carryingthe ware into the fire-chamber through one wall-opening and out at the other.

6. In a furnace for reheating and finishing glassware, the combination, with the furnace having vertical wall-openings, and segmental bottom slot formed openings extending through the fire-chamber and connectingtwo of said wall-openings, of a table arranged'beneath the said bottom openings and having several revolublc vertical ware-carrying supports arranged to travel through said bottom slots, and means for rotating said table.

7. In a furnace for reheating and finishing glassware, the combination, with a furnace having vertical wall-openings, of several intermittently-revoluble supporting-rods, each provided witha holder for the glass article, and a continuously-revoluble table carrying said rods, whereby the ware is caused to move through the fire-chamber with a compound movement. v

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MATI-HNV R. -GALD\VIJLL.

Witnesses:

V. F. NOBLE, JOHN L. Lorr. 

